Personal Hacks

10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Was A Teen

I’m not sure if anyone else does this but now and again I seem to reminisce about when I was a teen, of course I cringe *a lot* but I also sometimes feel a little sad at a few things. I know teen me would never of listened to adult me, teen me would of moaned to my mum about adult me and then made passive agressive facebook posts * I know I am cringing too*.

But then on the other hand, there’s a chance I would of listened and maybe it would of made certain scenarios and feelings a lot better for me back then, who knows?

What I really want to get out of this is if you’re a teen or even an adult, you’ll read some of my life lessons and things I wish I had told myself and maybe they’ll help you out in some way.

1.No friend, boy or TV show is worth losing sleep over. I know this is a strange one but sleep is so so important and ruining your day to talk to friends online really doesn’t amount to much. Log off and I can guarantee you they will still be around to chat in the morning and you won’t be so tired all the time.

2. Respect who you are. I spent so much time trying to be like everybody else and even drastically trying not to be like everyone else (‘elo ‘elo emo stage). It’s funny now at 21 to look back at old photos and die of embarrasment but just be yourself! If the people you surround yourself with don’t like it, you’re hanging around with the wrong people.

3. Thankfully as you get older you do get a teeny bit more health conscious and whilst I don’t regret all of that junk food you eat, please learn that moderation is key because girl your 10K daily unintentional calorie challenges don’t do you any favours.

4. All of them people you think are sooooooo cool, they really honestly aren’t. At 21 you look at 15 year olds smoking, drinking and being general idiots and you laugh, all of them people you just feel like are 10x better than you, honestly aren’t and have turned in to lousy adults, I promise.

5. Older men are creepy and know you are 15, you don’t look 21. Don’t be so naive girl.

6. Don’t plan and worry so much. You still plan and worry now and it’s a really weird trait to posess. You’re doing just fine, you’ve travelled and you’re still travelling all in good time. Stop panicking.

7. Everybody is lying. I got told so many rumours about so many boys and girls in the our school and believed all of them, maybe some are true but trust me everyone isn’t having sex. A lot of the kids that were rumoured to be having sex – now have children, i’m not saying that’s a bad thing for them but seriously don’t stress about it.

8. You end up with someone you REALLY fancy and someone who REALLY makes you cry with laughter (and still does). Stop worrying and stop trying to impress.

9. The internet and social media blows up big time so be so careful what you post online, things you find funny then could cost you jobs now, by all means still post things because it is funny and you have the best job ever but be careful young one.

10. You are so lovely and you don’t even know it. I still struggle with my appearance but back then it was a lot worse, nobody has the right to make you feel inferior and they really aren’t, you’re so pretty and should embrace every inch of yourself. (Probs still a life lesson I’ll be telling myself well in to my 30’s lol).

Here’s a little bonus one:

11. Being a teen is hard, like really hard. It feels like everything that happens is a million times worse and I promise it’s not. Life gets better and you won’t feel like that forever.

I wanted to also add in a few less serious bits of advice – I got thinking when editing this article about silly things I did that I wish i could of told me:

Foundation from a magazine is not nice and does not look nice.

You are so uncool wearing your backpack on one shoulder, it’s super bad for your back.

Wearing socks in to the pool is weird and not edgy – people think you have a foot disease.

Nobody cares what music you’re listening to, changing the song when someone hot came on MSN is a lot of work and it doesn’t work.

Re-applying foundation on top of foundation 5 times a day because it looks like its worn off is not a great look.

Skiving off school was funny, I’ll let you have that one, but it did get so boring now and again.

1 Comment

Really great, sensible advice ! Some of why I hadn’t really thought of but could totally relate to doing (like ‘Don’t plan and worry so much.’ – so true) and also the not wearing one’s backpack on one shoulder / down to your bum – so bad for you !